Advertainment

The word advertainment is used to represent the relationship between entertainment and advertising. The difference between an advertisement and advertainment is the way advertising is done. Ordinary advertising is entirely about the product.

Advertising is about advertising that occurs in different types of media. You can think of television, movies, songs, etc. These forms of media are combined with advertising elements to promote a brand or product. You see it quite often in a movie or series, that they eat or explicitly show a certain brand of candy. It's a product placement, but the kind of media you're watching isn't just about that brand or product.

Forms of advertainment 

There are three forms of advertainment that are most important:

• Product placement: there is a reference in the media form to products or services with promotional purposes
• Product Integration: The product is placed and plays an actual role in a program or film
• Branded entertainment: a form of entertainment by brands to hold consumers' attention for a longer period of time

The well-known Dutch program Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden features advertainment more often. Product placement and product integration were used during the program over the years. Branded entertainment is more about creating entertainment which is linked to the brand. A well-known example of this is The Lego Movie. All of this movie, is about the product of Lego. But the entertainment side of this is a movie.

The advertainment process 

With the rise of new forms of advertising, the industry of product placement also started. Because of this, there are a lot of separate components that have emerged purely for this market. In some cases, there is a contractual agreement is for an advertising campaign with product placement.

Then scripts are sent to producers explaining how to name the brand or product. Since it may happen that this script does not match with the production the producer goes against this proposal. Depending on the product, brand and advertising idea, agreements are made between the two parties. This allows them to establish a smooth cooperation. To outsource this cooperation, an advertising agency is used as an intermediary.